Grand Rapids Mayor George Heartwell has said the fate of the city and that of the schools are not mutually exclusive. He concluded his ninth annual State of the City address by saying "our children need us now." Children were a central focus of that speech.

City and school officials hold regular, joint meetings to discuss their efforts and how they can help each other and this community. Heartwell said the revisions Superintendent Teresa Weatherall Neal made to her proposed restructuring plan to transform the district, following community meetings, made a good plan better. The school board votes Monday.

That plan is to right-size by closing 10 buildings and consolidating other schools to address to declining enrollment, save money, and invest in education initiatives that work. Neal said she wants the pockets of excellence to become the norm for Grand Rapids Public Schools. Heartwell discuss her plan in his column below:

By Mayor George Heartwell

GRAND RAPIDS, MI. – Grand Rapids Public Schools have demonstrated that it can create academic success when it has sufficient resources. Now is the time to support the district and its continued transformation!

When I took office in 2004, the Grand Rapids Public Schools were in a state of transition and chaos. The dynamics of our community had changed while our school system had not. Too many buildings and too few students created the need for significant change throughout the system.

We’ve come a long way in the last nine years. The district has closed buildings, improved curriculum and has been recognized nationally for its centers of excellence. While we can take pride in our pockets of success, we cannot rest until every child has the opportunity to experience his or her academic potential. Pockets of success need to become pools of success. Where there currently isn’t sufficient opportunity, we must ensure that opportunity abounds.

Superintendent Teresa Weatherall Neal has proposed that we do just that by taking the next bold step. Her transformation plan is detailed, strategic and promises to redirect scarce resources so parents and their children have expanded choices, enhanced academic options and greater hopes for the future.

Very simply, the plan lifts the financial burden of maintaining unneeded buildings off the back of the district. Those savings will then be shifted to the creation or expansion of successful programs and schools.

This is not a silver bullet and it may not be the last time our district needs to make significant adjustments to how it delivers education to our children. It is, however, the right move at the right time for all the right reasons. But, we all know that change can be hard.
Transformation does not come easy and it often comes with a price. True transformation requires shared sacrifice, leadership and, perhaps most importantly, fortitude.

The payoff, however, comes in the form of greater fiscal accountability for our district and greater academic accountability for our children. Both mean a more promising future for our current generation of students and all who will follow.

I applaud Superintendent Neal for putting the plan forward and I encourage the board members to support the plan and move quickly with its implementation. We have no time to waste. Now is the time to demonstrate the resolve necessary to make the tough decisions and to put our children first.